If someone told you about a firm that was selling the same product to multiple customers, you would probably have visions of Bernie Madoff or someone like him. You would definitely feel that there was some type of scam occurring. But, can you sell the same product to different clients—legally? In the burgeoning market for testing and assessment services of job candidates, there is one Canadian firm doing just that.

Like others in this industry, this organization contracts with hiring firms, providing complete evaluations of potential employees. The transaction is simple: online testing is administered, the responses evaluated and a candidate report is generated and sent to the hiring firm, Company A. The resulting report is what the hiring firm has paid for. Now that this is done, the question is where else can this information be marketed.

Once the initial assessment has been completed by the assessment firm, the job applicant receives an e-mail confirming this. Also, this same note offers the candidate the opportunity to acquire a copy of the results. This becomes the second sale of the same data, creating a second revenue stream for the assessment firm.

More interestingly, however, is that the candidate’s e-mail also contains a third offer. Now that a profile has been created and stored with the assessment organization, the candidate has the ability to reference this to any other company they may be trying to secure employment with, Company B for example. Although the details about this final transaction are not identified, I can’t fathom the testing firm simply relinquishing the profile results without a payment from Company B. This becomes the third revenue stream from the same profile data.

As the economy and competition directly impacts profits, companies need to discover innovative ways to improve top line revenues, ideally with minimal impact on costs. This is a clear example of how one firm is trying to do this. There may be some potential issues in this model, but they deserve kudos for their attempt.

Comments

Although many business still operate in the same mode as they have done for years, it is a new age. Some firms, like the one I mention in this posting, are certainly pushing the envelope. The key question is whether they will be successful doing it. I see some issues in their business model and its execution.

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